Executing A Graph Network Model To Obtain A Gate Pushback Time

ABSTRACT

A misconnect management system models the movement of passengers, bags, and crew through flights and airports. In various embodiments, a misconnect management system identifies potential misconnected passengers and provides recommendations and input configured to support decision makers, such as ramp controllers and operations controller, in evaluating hold/no hold decisions for a flight. Via use of the misconnect management system and associated methods, misconnected passenger numbers may be reduced, expenses associated with missed connections may be reduced, and organizational efficiency may be improved.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of, claims priority to and thebenefit of, U.S. Ser. No. 16/887,343 filed May 29, 2020 entitled“RESTRICTING AIRPLANE PUSHBACK BASED ON GATE HOLD TIMES”. The '343application is a continuation of, claims priority to and the benefit of,U.S. Ser. No. 13/837,462 filed Mar. 15, 2013 entitled “MISCONNECTMANAGEMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS.” All of the foregoing applications arehereby incorporated in their entirety by reference for all purposes.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to operational modeling, andmore particularly, to analysis methods and tools suitable to monitor andcontrol the flow of passengers and luggage through a transportationsystem.

BACKGROUND

Air travel, particularly over long distances, is commonly divided intomultiple flight segments or “legs”. For example, a passenger travelingfrom Jacksonville (JAX) to Los Angeles (LAX) may travel from JAX toDallas/Fort Worth (DFW) on a first leg, and then from DFW to LAX on asecond leg. Similarly, an airline crew member may first work a flightfrom Phoenix (PHX) to Philadelphia (PHL), then a flight from PHL toBaltimore (BWI), and then a flight from BWI to Miami (MIA). Airlineflight schedules are typically configured to accommodate variouscombinations of connecting flights in order to maximize utilization ofairline resources, accommodate passenger travel demand, increaserevenue, decrease expenses, and/or the like.

However, due to weather, equipment malfunction and/or the like, airlineflights regularly arrive at a later time than initially scheduled. Whena flight is delayed, passengers, luggage, and/or crew may fail toconnect to the next leg of a route, leading to missed connectionexpenses for the airline (e.g., hotel accommodations, placement ofpassengers who missed a connection on another flight in lieu of a paidbooking, activation of reserve crew to cover for the missed crewconnection, and/or the like) and/or the passenger (e.g. if the delay wasdue to a circumstance beyond airline control, such as weather).Accordingly, systems and methods for reducing the incidence of missedconnections (and/or reducing or minimizing the expense of missedconnections) remain desirable.

SUMMARY

In an embodiment, a method comprises: modeling, by a processor formisconnect management, movement of a passenger through a transportationsystem; identifying, by the processor, the passenger as a misconnectedpassenger; and determining, by the processor, a set of gate hold timesfor a first flight in the transportation system. The first flight isassociated with the misconnected passenger. The method further comprisescommunicating, by the processor and to a user, the set of suggested gatehold times for the first flight.

In another embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumhas computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, in response toexecution by a processor for misconnect management, causes the processorto perform operations comprising: modeling, by the processor, movementof a passenger through a transportation system; identifying, by theprocessor, the passenger as a misconnected passenger; determining, bythe processor, a set of gate hold times for a first flight in thetransportation system, wherein the first flight is associated with themisconnected passenger; and communicating, by the processor and to auser, the set of suggested gate hold times for the first flight.

The contents of this summary section are provided only as a simplifiedintroduction to the disclosure, and are not intended to be used to limitthe scope of the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

With reference to the following description, appended claims, andaccompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary misconnect managementsystem components, in accordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 2A illustrates a block diagram of operation of an exemplarymisconnect module, in accordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 2B illustrates a block diagram of operation of an exemplarymisconnect module, in accordance with various embodiments;

FIGS. 2C through 2G illustrate views of an exemplary misconnectinterface in an exemplary misconnect module, in accordance with variousembodiments; and

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary method for misconnect management, inaccordance with various embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description is of various embodiments only, and is notintended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of thepresent disclosure in any way. Rather, the following description isintended to provide a convenient illustration for implementing variousembodiments including the best mode. As will become apparent, variouschanges may be made in the function and arrangement of the elementsdescribed in these embodiments without departing from the scope of thepresent disclosure or appended claims.

For the sake of brevity, conventional techniques for airline flightscheduling, operations management, statistical analysis, processoptimization, software application development, and/or the like, may notbe described in detail herein. Furthermore, the connecting lines shownin various figures contained herein are intended to represent exemplaryfunctional relationships and/or physical or communicative couplingsbetween various elements. It should be noted that many alternative oradditional functional relationships or physical or communicativeconnections may be present in a practical misconnect management system.

Station and flight crew strive to pushback an aircraft from a gate inorder to conform to a scheduled departure time. However, due to airportcongestion and other factors, it may be possible for pushback of aflight to be delayed (for example, due to a gate hold) withoutsignificant adverse impact on arrival time at the destination (forexample, due to tail winds, by modifying in-flight airspeed to thedestination, by moving the flight up in a taxi queue, and/or the like).Additionally, even if a flight is held at the gate for a period of time,and consequently delayed in arriving at the destination, the adverseimpact at the destination may be acceptable. Stated generally, thebenefits of holding a flight to allow one or more passengers or bags toconnect may outweigh the drawbacks associated with holding a departingflight at the gate for a period of time.

Accordingly, features and principles of the present disclosurecontemplate improved misconnect management methods and systems. Byevaluating exemplary information (e.g., passenger information, baginformation, crew information, and flight schedule executioninformation), all on a continuous, real-time, and/or discrete basis,exemplary misconnect management systems and methods enhance thehold-for-connection decision making process. In this manner, misconnectexpenses may be reduced and/or minimized, improved airline resourceutilization may be realized, customer goodwill may be increased, and/orthe like.

While the present disclosure discusses airlines, flights, pilots, flightattendants, ramp controllers, air traffic controllers, passengers, bags,and/or the like for purposes of convenience and illustration, one ofskill in the art will appreciate that the misconnect management methods,systems, and tools disclosed herein are broadly applicable, for exampleto transportation industries of various sorts (e.g., buses, trains,ships, trucks, automobiles and/or the like), freight and parcelshipping, supply chain management, and/or the like.

Various embodiments employ forecasting, statistical analysis and/oroptimization techniques. For more information regarding such techniquesrefer to, for example: “The Theory and Practice of Revenue Management”(International Series in Operations Research & Management Science) byKalyan T. Talluri and Garrett J. van Ryzin; “Using MultivariateStatistics (5th Edition)” by Barbara G. Tabachnick and Linda S. Fidell;and “Introduction to Operations Research” by Friedrich S. Hiller andGerald J. Lieberman, McGraw-Hill 7th edition, Mar. 22, 2002; thecontents of which are each hereby incorporated by reference in theirentireties.

In various embodiments, exemplary misconnect management systems includea user interface (“UI”), software modules, logic engines, variousdatabases, interfaces to systems and tools, and/or computer networks.While exemplary misconnect management systems may contemplate upgradesor reconfigurations of existing processes and/or systems, changes toexisting databases and system tools are not necessarily required byprinciples of the present disclosure.

The benefits provided by features and principles of the presentdisclosure include, for example, reduced passenger misconnects, reducedbag misconnects, reduced crew misconnects, increased customer goodwill,reduced passenger misconnect expenses (e.g., housing expenses, foodexpenses, mandated payments, customer spoiled seat costs, seatdisplacement costs, and/or the like), reduced bag misconnect expenses,increased planning and operational efficiency, increased employeemorale, and the like.

As used herein, an “entity” may include any individual, softwareprogram, business, organization, government entity, web site, system,hardware, and/or any other entity. A “user” may include any entity thatinteracts with a system and/or participates in a process. “Upline” meansa flight leg or location disposed earlier in a route; “downline” means aflight leg or location disposed later in a route (thus, for example, foran aircraft travelling from PHX to DFW to New York (JFK), the PHX→DFWleg is upline from the DFW→JFK leg; for the PHX→DFW leg, PHX is theupline station and DFW is the downline station, and so forth).

Turning now to FIG. 1 , in accordance with various embodiments, a user105 may perform tasks such as requesting, retrieving, receiving,updating, analyzing and/or modifying data. User 105 may also performtasks such as initiating, manipulating, interacting with or using asoftware application, tool, module or hardware, and initiating,receiving or sending a communication. User 105 may interface withInternet server 125 via any communication protocol, device or methoddiscussed herein, known in the art, or later developed. User 105 may be,for example, a ramp controller, an air traffic controller, an airport, acustomer service center, an operations control center, a member of anoperations research or systems analysis organization, a downstreamsystem, an upstream system, a third-party system, a systemadministrator, and/or the like.

In various embodiments, a system 101 may include a user 105 interfacingwith a misconnect management system 115 by way of a client 110.Misconnect management system 115 may be a partially or fully integratedsystem comprised of various subsystems, modules and databases. Client110 comprises any hardware and/or software suitably configured tofacilitate entering, accessing, requesting, retrieving, updating,analyzing and/or modifying data. The data may include operational data(e.g., schedules, resources, routes, operational alerts, weather,passenger data, etc.), airport data (for example, gate-to-gate travelinformation, taxi queue information, runway information, arriving and/ordeparting flight information, and/or the like), cost data, forecasts,historical data, verification data, asset (e.g., airplane) data,regulatory data, authentication data, demographic data, transactiondata, or any other suitable information discussed herein.

Client 110 includes any device (e.g., a computer), which communicates,in any manner discussed herein, with misconnect management system 115via any network or protocol discussed herein. Browser applicationscomprise Internet browsing software installed within a computing unit orsystem to conduct online communications and transactions. Thesecomputing units or systems may take the form of personal computers,mobile phones, personal digital assistants, mobile email devices,laptops, notebooks, hand-held computers, portable computers, kiosks,and/or the like. Practitioners will appreciate that client 110 may ormay not be in direct contact with misconnect management system 115. Forexample, client 110 may access the services of misconnect managementsystem 115 through another server, which may have a direct or indirectconnection to Internet server 125. Practitioners will further recognizethat client 110 may present interfaces associated with a softwareapplication (e.g., SAS analytic software) or module that are provided toclient 110 via application graphical user interfaces (GUIs) or otherinterfaces and are not necessarily associated with or dependent uponInternet browsers or Internet-specific protocols.

User 105 may communicate with misconnect management system 115 through afirewall 120, for example to help ensure the integrity of misconnectmanagement system 115 components. Internet server 125 may include anyhardware and/or software suitably configured to facilitatecommunications between the client 110 and one or more misconnectmanagement system 115 components.

Firewall 120, as used herein, may comprise any hardware and/or softwaresuitably configured to protect misconnect management system 115components from users of other networks. Firewall 120 may reside invarying configurations including stateful inspection, proxy based andpacket filtering, among others. Firewall 120 may be integrated assoftware within Internet server 125, any other system 101 component, ormay reside within another computing device or may take the form of astandalone hardware component.

Authentication server 130 may include any hardware and/or softwaresuitably configured to receive authentication credentials, encrypt anddecrypt credentials, authenticate credentials, and/or grant accessrights according to pre-defined privileges associated with thecredentials. Authentication server 130 may grant varying degrees ofapplication and/or data level access to users based on informationstored within authentication database 135 and user database 140.Application server 142 may include any hardware and/or software suitablyconfigured to serve applications and data to a connected client 110.

In accordance with various embodiments, misconnect management system 115is usable to: model passenger and/or bag flow through various flightlegs and airports; generate recommendations, for example for a rampcontroller or an operations controller; generate inputs to otherforecasting systems; and/or evaluate proposed courses of action (forexample, a proposed gate hold time for a flight). Continuing toreference FIG. 1 , misconnect management system 115 allows communicationwith central data repository (CDR) 150, and with various otherdatabases, tools, UIs and systems, for example external systems anddatabases 160. Such systems include, for example, airline schedulingsystems, air traffic control systems, ground traffic control systems,and/or the like. In various embodiments, external systems and databases160 include a flight operations system, an airline reservation system,and/or the like.

Misconnect management system 115 components may be interconnected andcommunicate with one another to allow for a completely integratedmisconnect management system. In various embodiments, misconnectmanagement system 115 models passenger flow, bag flow, crew flow, andschedule execution on a continuous and/or real-time basis. In otherembodiments, misconnect management system 115 models on a discrete basis(for example, every fifteen seconds, every thirty seconds, every oneminute, every two minutes, and/or the like). Ramp controllers may makeflight pushback decisions and/or gate hold decisions based at least inpart upon output of (and/or guidance or suggestions received from)misconnect management system 115; moreover, airport staff, operationalcontrol staff, gate staff, flight attendants, reservation staff, and/orother users 105 may make decisions, for example flight schedulingdecisions, customer seating decisions, flight gate assignment decisions,and/or the like, based at least in part upon output of (and/or guidanceor suggestions received from) misconnect management system 115.

In various embodiments, certain misconnect management system 115 modules(e.g., misconnect module 180) are software modules configured to enableonline functions such as sending and receiving messages, receiving queryrequests, configuring responses, dynamically configuring userinterfaces, requesting data, receiving data, displaying data, executingcomplex processes, calculations, forecasts, mathematical techniques,workflows and/or algorithms, prompting user 105, verifying userresponses, authenticating the user, initiating misconnect managementsystem 115 processes, initiating other software modules, triggeringdownstream systems and processes, encrypting and decrypting, and/or thelike. Additionally, misconnect management system 115 modules may includeany hardware and/or software suitably configured to receive requestsfrom client 110, for example via Internet server 125 and applicationserver 142. It will be appreciated that, while misconnect module 180 isillustrated as a separate module in FIG. 1 , in various embodimentscomponents of misconnect management system 115 (and/or functionalitythereof) may be combined into fewer modules or components, oralternatively, divided into additional modules and/or components.

Misconnect management system 115 modules may be further configured toprocess requests, execute transactions, construct database queries,and/or execute queries against databases within system 101 (e.g., CDR150), external data sources and/or temporary databases. In variousembodiments, one or more misconnect management system 115 modules may beconfigured to execute application programming interfaces in order tocommunicate with a variety of messaging platforms, such as emailsystems, wireless communications systems, mobile communications systems,multimedia messaging service (“MMS”) systems, short messaging service(“SMS”) systems, and the like.

Misconnect management system 115 modules may be configured to exchangedata with other systems and application modules, for example, a customerservice system, an airline rewards system, a ground traffic controlsystem, and/or the like. In various embodiments, misconnect managementsystem 115 modules may be configured to interact with other system 101components to perform complex calculations, retrieve additional data,format data into reports, create XML representations of data, constructmarkup language documents, construct, define or control UIs, and/or thelike. Moreover, misconnect management system 115 modules may reside asstandalone systems or tools, or may be incorporated with the applicationserver 142 or any other misconnect management system 115 component asprogram code. As one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate,misconnect management system 115 modules may be logically or physicallydivided into various subcomponents, such as a workflow engine configuredto evaluate predefined rules and to automate processes.

In addition to the components described above, misconnect managementsystem 115 may further include one or more of the following: a hostserver or other computing systems including a processor for processingdigital data; a memory coupled to the processor for storing digitaldata; an input digitizer coupled to the processor for inputting digitaldata; an application program stored in the memory and accessible by theprocessor for directing processing of digital data by the processor; adisplay device coupled to the processor and memory for displayinginformation derived from digital data processed by the processor; aplurality of databases, and/or the like.

As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, one or moremisconnect management system 115 components may be embodied as acustomization of an existing system, an add-on product, upgradedsoftware, a stand-alone system (e.g., kiosk), a distributed system, amethod, a data processing system, a device for data processing, and/or acomputer program product. Accordingly, individual misconnect managementsystem 115 components may take the form of an entirely softwareembodiment, an entirely hardware embodiment, or an embodiment combiningaspects of both software and hardware. Furthermore, individualmisconnect management system 115 components may take the form of acomputer program product on a computer-readable storage medium havingcomputer-readable program code means embodied in the storage medium. Anysuitable computer-readable storage medium may be utilized, includingmagnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disks), optical storage devices(e.g., DVD-ROM, CD-ROM, etc.), electronic storage devices (e.g., flashmemory), and/or the like.

Client 110 may include an operating system (e.g., Windows, UNIX, Linux,Solaris, MacOS, iOS, Android, Windows Mobile OS, Windows CE, Palm OS,Symbian OS, Blackberry OS, J2ME, etc.) as well as various conventionalsupport software and drivers typically associated with mobile devicesand/or computers. Client 110 may be in any environment with access toany network, including both wireless and wired network connections. Invarious embodiments, access is through a network or the Internet througha commercially available web-browser software package. Client 110 andmisconnect management system 115 components may be independently,separately or collectively suitably coupled to the network via datalinks which include, for example, a connection to an Internet ServiceProvider (ISP) over the local loop as is typically used in connectionwith standard wireless communications networks and/or methods, such asmodem communication, cable modem, satellite networks, ISDN, digitalsubscriber line (DSL), and/or the like. In various embodiments, anyportion of client 110 may be partially or fully connected to a networkusing a wired (“hard wire”) connection. As those skilled in the art willappreciate, client 110 and/or any of the system components may includewired and/or wireless portions.

In various embodiments, components, modules, and/or engines ofmisconnect management system 115 may be implemented asmicro-applications or micro-apps. Micro-apps are typically deployed inthe context of a mobile operating system, including for example, a Palmmobile operating system, a Windows mobile operating system, an Androidoperating system, Apple iOS, a Blackberry operating system, and thelike. The micro-app may be configured to leverage the resources of thelarger operating system and associated hardware via a set ofpredetermined rules which govern the operations of various operatingsystems and hardware resources. For example, where a micro-app desiresto communicate with a device or network other than the mobile device ormobile operating system, the micro-app may leverage the communicationprotocol of the operating system and associated device hardware underthe predetermined rules of the mobile operating system. Moreover, wherethe micro-app desires an input from a user, the micro-app may beconfigured to request a response from the operating system whichmonitors various hardware components and then communicates a detectedinput from the hardware to the micro-app.

Internet server 125 may be configured to transmit data to client 110within markup language documents. “Data” may include encompassinginformation such as commands, messages, transaction requests, queries,files, data for storage, and/or the like in digital or any other form.Internet server 125 may operate as a single entity in a singlegeographic location or as separate computing components located togetheror in separate geographic locations. Further, Internet server 125 mayprovide a suitable web site or other Internet-based graphical userinterface, which is accessible by users (such as user 105). In variousembodiments, Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS), MicrosoftTransaction Server (MTS), and Microsoft SQL Server, are used inconjunction with a Microsoft operating system, Microsoft NT web serversoftware, a Microsoft SQL Server database system, and a MicrosoftCommerce Server. In various embodiments, the well-known “LAMP” stack(Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP/Perl/Python) are used to enablemisconnect management system 115. Additionally, components such asAccess or Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, Sybase, InterBase, etc., may beused to provide an Active Data Object (ADO) compliant databasemanagement system.

Like Internet server 125, application server 142 may communicate withany number of other servers, databases and/or components through anymeans known in the art. Further, application server 142 may serve as aconduit between client 110 and the various systems and components ofmisconnect management system 115. Internet server 125 may interface withapplication server 142 through any means known in the art including aLAN/WAN, for example. Application server 142 may further invoke softwaremodules, misconnect module 180, automatically or in response to user 105requests.

Any of the communications, inputs, storage, databases or displaysdiscussed herein may be facilitated through a web site having web pages.The term “web page” as it is used herein is not meant to limit the typeof documents and applications that may be used to interact with theuser. For example, a typical web site may include, in addition tostandard HTML documents, various forms, Java applets, JavaScript, activeserver pages (ASP), common gateway interface scripts (CGI), Flash filesor modules, FLEX, ActionScript, extensible markup language (XML),dynamic HTML, cascading style sheets (CSS), helper applications,plug-ins, and/or the like. A server may include a web service thatreceives a request from a web server, the request including a URL (e.g.,http://yahoo.com/) and/or an internet protocol (“IP”) address. The webserver retrieves the appropriate web pages and sends the data orapplications for the web pages to the IP address. Web services areapplications that are capable of interacting with other applicationsover a communications means, such as the Internet. Web services aretypically based on standards or protocols such as XML, SOAP, WSDL andUDDI. Web services methods are well known in the art, and are covered inmany standard texts. See, e.g., Alex Nghiem, IT Web Services: A Roadmapfor the Enterprise (2003).

Continuing to reference FIG. 1 , illustrated are databases that areincluded in various embodiments. An exemplary list of various databasesused herein includes: an authentication database 135, a user database140, CDR 150 and/or other databases that aid in the functioning of thesystem. As practitioners will appreciate, while depicted as separateand/or independent entities for the purposes of illustration, databasesresiding within misconnect management system 115 may represent multiplehardware, software, database, data structure and networking components.Furthermore, embodiments are not limited to the databases describedherein, nor do embodiments necessarily utilize each of the discloseddatabases.

Authentication database 135 may store information used in theauthentication process such as, for example, user identifiers,passwords, access privileges, user preferences, user statistics, and thelike. User database 140 maintains user information and credentials formisconnect management system 115 users (e.g., user 105).

In various embodiments, CDR 150 is a data repository that may beconfigured to store a wide variety of comprehensive data for misconnectmanagement system 115. While depicted as a single logical entity in FIG.1 , those of skill in the art will appreciate that CDR 150 may, invarious embodiments, consist of multiple physical and/or logical datasources. In various embodiments, CDR 150 stores passenger data, deplanerate data, taxi rate data, flight booking data, crew schedules, taxiqueue data, operational data, flight schedules, resource data, assetdata, inventory data, personnel information, routes and route plans,station (e.g., airports or other terminals) data, operational alertdata, weather information, cost data, optimization results, bookingclass data, forecasts, historical data, verification data,authentication data, demographic data, legal data, regulatory data,transaction data, security profiles, access rules, content analysisrules, audit records, predefined rules, process definitions, financialdata, and the like. For example, a data source or component database ofCDR 150 includes, but is not limited to, information regarding passengeritineraries, passenger connection types, passenger frequent flyerprogram status, passenger ticket fare, and/or the like.

Any databases discussed herein may include relational, hierarchical,graphical, or object-oriented structure and/or any other databaseconfigurations. Common database products that may be used to implementthe databases include DB2 by IBM (Armonk, N.Y.), various databaseproducts available from Oracle Corporation (Redwood Shores, Calif.),Microsoft Access or Microsoft SQL Server by Microsoft Corporation(Redmond, Wash.), MySQL by MySQL AB (Uppsala, Sweden), Ehcache,Couchbase, VoltDB, Versant, Hazelcast, or any other suitable databaseproduct. Moreover, the databases may be organized in any suitablemanner, for example, as data tables or lookup tables. Each record may bea single file, a series of files, a linked series of data fields or anyother data structure. Association of certain data may be accomplishedthrough any desired data association technique such as those known orpracticed in the art. For example, the association may be accomplishedeither manually or automatically. Automatic association techniques mayinclude, for example, a database search, a database merge, GREP, AGREP,SQL, using a key field in the tables to speed searches, sequentialsearches through all the tables and files, sorting records in the fileaccording to a known order to simplify lookup, and/or the like. Theassociation step may be accomplished by a database merge function, forexample, using a “key field” in pre-selected databases or data sectors.Various database tuning steps are contemplated to optimize databaseperformance. For example, frequently used files such as indexes may beplaced on separate file systems to reduce In/Out (“I/O”) bottlenecks.

One skilled in the art will also appreciate that, for security reasons,any databases, systems, devices, servers or other components of system101 may consist of any combination thereof at a single location or atmultiple locations, wherein each database or system includes any ofvarious suitable security features, such as firewalls, access codes,encryption, decryption, compression, decompression, and/or the like.

The systems and methods may be described herein in terms of functionalblock components, screen shots, optional selections and variousprocessing steps. It should be appreciated that such functional blocksmay be realized by any number of hardware and/or software componentsconfigured to perform the specified functions. For example, the systemmay employ various integrated circuit components, e.g., memory elements,processing elements, logic elements, look-up tables, and the like, whichmay carry out a variety of functions under the control of one or moremicroprocessors or other control devices. Similarly, the softwareelements of the system may be implemented with any programming orscripting language such as C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Flash,ActionScript, FLEX, VBScript, Macromedia Cold Fusion, COBOL, MicrosoftActive Server Pages, assembly, PERL, SAS, PHP, awk, Python, VisualBasic, SQL Stored Procedures, PL/SQL, any UNIX shell script, and/orextensible markup language (XML) or the like, with the variousalgorithms being implemented with any combination of data structures,objects, processes, routines or other programming elements. Further, itshould be noted that the system may employ any number of conventionaltechniques for data transmission, signaling, data processing, networkcontrol, and the like. Still further, the system may be used to detector prevent security issues with a client-side scripting language, suchas JavaScript, VBScript or the like.

Software elements may be loaded onto a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a machine, such that the instructions execute on the computer orother programmable data processing means for implementing the functionsspecified in the flowchart block or blocks. These computer programinstructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that candirect a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus tofunction in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored inthe computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture includinginstruction means which implement the function specified herein or inflowchart block or blocks. The computer program instructions may also beloaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatusto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computeror other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implementedprocess such that the instructions which execute on the computer orother programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing thefunctions specified in the flowchart block or blocks.

Accordingly, functional blocks of the block diagrams and flowchartillustrations support combinations of means for performing the specifiedfunctions, combinations of steps for performing the specified functions,and program instruction means for performing the specified functions. Itwill also be understood that each functional block of the block diagramsand flowchart illustrations, and combinations of functional blocks inthe block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, can be implemented byeither special purpose hardware-based computer systems which perform thespecified functions or steps, or suitable combinations of specialpurpose hardware and computer instructions. Further, illustrations ofthe process flows and the descriptions thereof may make reference touser windows, web pages, web sites, web forms, prompts, etc.Practitioners will appreciate that the illustrated steps describedherein may comprise any number of configurations including the use ofwindows, web pages, web forms, popup windows, prompts and/or the like.It should be further appreciated that the multiple steps as illustratedand described may be combined into single web pages and/or windows buthave been expanded for the sake of simplicity. In other cases, stepsillustrated and described as single process steps may be separated intomultiple web pages and/or windows but have been combined for simplicity.

With continued reference to FIG. 1 , in various embodiments, user 105logs onto an application (e.g., a module) and Internet server 125 mayinvoke an application server 142. Application server 142 invokes logicin misconnect management system 115 by passing parameters relating touser's 105 requests for data. Misconnect management system 115 managesrequests for data from misconnect management system 115 modules and/orcommunicates with system 101 components. Transmissions between user 105and Internet server 125 may pass through a firewall 120 to help ensurethe integrity of misconnect management system 115 components.Practitioners will appreciate that exemplary embodiments may incorporateany number of security schemes or none at all. In various embodiments,Internet server 125 receives requests from client 110 and interacts withvarious other system 101 components to perform tasks related to requestsfrom client 110.

Internet server 125 may invoke an authentication server 130 to verifythe identity of user 105 and assign roles, access rights and/orpermissions to user 105. In order to control access to the applicationserver 142 or any other component of misconnect management system 115,Internet server 125 may invoke an authentication server 130 in responseto user 105 submissions of authentication credentials received atInternet server 125. In response to a request to access system 101 beingreceived from Internet server 125, Internet server 125 determines ifauthentication is required and transmits a prompt to client 110. User105 enters authentication data at client 110, which transmits theauthentication data to Internet server 125. Internet server 125 passesthe authentication data to authentication server 130 which queries theuser database 140 for corresponding credentials. In response to user 105being authenticated, user 105 may access various applications and theircorresponding data sources.

With reference now to FIGS. 1 through 3 , in various embodiments, amisconnect management system 115 and/or method 300 utilize a model formisconnect management configured to consolidate and/or evaluatepassenger information, bag information, crew information, and/or flightschedule execution information. Output of misconnect management system115 and/or method 300 may be utilized to inform flight pushbackdecisions, make gate change decisions, rebook potentially misconnectedpassengers, assess expenses associated with a missed connection, and/orthe like.

In various embodiments, misconnect management system 115 is configuredto consolidate and process real-time connecting passenger, bags, crew,and airline operations data in order to rapidly identify potentialmisconnections after a deviation in airline operations arises.Misconnect management system 115 may be utilized as a decision supporttool, for example for ramp tower personnel, customer service personnel,operations control center personnel, and/or the like, in order to manageand/or mitigate the effects of operational disruptions on customers andon an airline as a whole.

In various embodiments, misconnect management system 115 is configuredwith a misconnect module 180, for example misconnect module 280.Misconnect module 280 may comprise misconnect database 283, misconnectengine 286, and misconnect interface 289.

Misconnect database 283 is configured to contain and/or accessinformation suitable for use by misconnect module 280. It will beappreciated that, as illustrated in FIGS. 2A and 2B, misconnect database283 may be a portion of misconnect module 280; however, misconnectdatabase 283 may also be implemented external to and/or accessible bymisconnect module 280.

Misconnect database 283 may be updated as frequently as suitable foroperation of misconnect module 280. In an embodiment, misconnectdatabase 283 is updated in real-time as data updates are received. Inother embodiments, misconnect database 283 is updated at intervals (forexample, every 15 seconds, every 30 seconds, every 1 minute, and/or thelike).

Misconnect database 283 may receive, store, and/or access informationassociated with a flight, for example, bookings on a prior flight leg,seat assignments, connecting flight information, final destinationinformation, prior leg estimated time of arrival (ETA), prior legarrival time, arrival gate, departure gate, gate-to-gate distanceinformation, deplaning rates, flight estimated time of departure (ETD),flight plan block time, scheduled flight departure time, estimated taxitimes, flight ETA at a downline station, and/or the like.

It will be appreciated that as an airline day of operations develops,the source and quality of data available to and/or stored in misconnectdatabase 283 may vary. For example, at a certain time before a flightdeparture (for example, 40 minutes), the best estimate for the number ofpassengers expected to be on board is usually the number of bookings forthat flight, which may be available from a reservation system, forexample reservation system 260A. However, between 30 minutes prior todeparture and departure, the best estimate of the number of passengersexpected to be on board is typically available from check-in processdata, which may be available from a flight operations system 260B.Additionally, after departure the best estimate of the number ofpassengers on board (i.e., actual numbers) is flight closeout data froma gate reader or manual flight closeout updates.

Similarly, in misconnect management system 115, time horizon has animpact on flight ETA. Before a flight departs, the best estimate of itsETA at the destination is usually based on operations data (for example,estimated departure time) and historical estimates (for example,estimated taxi-out time+flight plan enroute+estimated taxi-in time).However, once a flight departs, the best estimate of ETA at thedestination is based on FLIFO (“flight information”), because theuncertainty of gate departure time is removed. It will be appreciatedthat ETA accuracy progressively improves as the flight progresses to thearrival station. Accordingly, misconnect database 283 is configured toaccess and/or utilize multiple data sources, as suitable, for exampledepending on the time of day, the time before departure of a particularflight, the time before arrival of a particular flight, and/or the like.

Misconnect management system 115 is thus configured to regularly update,revise, and or recalculate misconnected passenger, bag, and/or crewinformation, for example every one minute, in order to provide accurateestimates. Misconnect database 283 is configured to obtain, access,fuse, and/or store such information for use by misconnect engine 286 orother components of misconnect management system 115.

Misconnect engine 286 accesses data in misconnect database 283 andperforms operations thereon. Misconnect engine 286 is configured toperform calculations, model outcomes, generate recommendations, andotherwise facilitate improved decision making, for example a hold/nohold decision for a flight. In various embodiments, misconnect engine286 is configured to determine Available Time to Connect (ATC) andRequired Time to Connect (RTC) for each connecting passenger, bag,and/or crew member associated with a flight. When RTC>ATC for apassenger, bag, or crew member, they may be flagged by misconnect engine286 as a potential misconnect.

In various embodiments, misconnect engine 286 calculates RTC as follows:RTC=Deplaning Time (DT)+Gate-to-Gate Travel Time (G2GTT). However,misconnect engine 286 may calculate and/or determine RTC via anysuitable method or algorithm.

In misconnect engine 286, DT may be calculated as a function of the seatassigned to a passenger and a deplaning rate. A deplaning rate may be afunction of the arrival airport, the aircraft, and/or the like.Passengers may be considered to deplane by row, and by seat within rowbased on proximity to an aisle (i.e., aisle seats deplane before centerseats, and center seats before window seats, within the same row). Invarious embodiments, DT is determined by the passenger seat position andthe deplaning rate. In other embodiments, DT may be determined by asimplified calculation, for example a 50^(th) percentile estimate. Forexample, the total number of passengers on board may be divided by 2,and then divided by a corresponding deplaning rate to determine a fixed(estimated) deplaning time for all passengers on the flight.

In various embodiments, misconnect engine 286 is configured to modelG2GTT for each connecting passenger for a flight. G2GTT may be afunction of the physical distance between gates, passenger walkingspeed, shuttle transportation, the presence of one or more securitychecks, a desired time buffer before aircraft door closure, and/or thelike. It will be appreciated that shuttle transportation time may bemodeled by utilizing an equivalent walking distance between gates usingan estimated walking speed and known shuttle travel time. (i.e., ashuttle travel portion may be replaced by an equivalent walkingdistance, wherein the equivalent walking distance=mean shuttle traveltime*walking speed).

In misconnect engine 286, walking speed may be a user-defined parameter.In an embodiment, for a particular flight, walking speed may beinitially set to a default value, for example 270 feet per minute.Walking speed may thereafter be refined and/or calibrated, for examplebased on actual passenger connection information, gate reader boardingscan time stamps, and/or the like. In this manner, misconnect engine 286may develop a set of walking speed estimates customized for a variety offlights, airports, and/or the like.

In misconnect management system 115, distance between gates may berepresented by a database value, for example in feet, configured tofacilitate an estimate of travel time between gates. Distance betweengates may be based on actual or estimated walking distances; distancebetween gates may also be expanded and/or contracted, for example inorder to account for shuttle transit time and/or the like.

Misconnect engine 286 may be configured to use a desired time bufferbefore aircraft door closure. The time buffer may be based on an airlinepolicy or similar; in various exemplary embodiments misconnect engine286 is configured to utilize a time buffer of between 4 minutes and 11minutes before departure. However, any suitable time buffer may beutilized. It will be appreciated that as the time buffer is increased,the incidence of passengers identified by misconnect engine 286 aspotential misconnected passengers will also rise, but actualmisconnected passengers may decrease; conversely, as the time buffer isdecreased, the incidence of passengers identified by misconnect engine286 as potentially misconnected passengers may also decrease, but actualmisconnected passengers may increase. Accordingly, in misconnect engine286, a time buffer for a flight or flights may be updated and/orrefined, for example based at least in part on historical information,in order to improve the accuracy of misconnect management system 115.

In an embodiment, misconnect engine 286 determines G2GTT as (distancebetween gates/walking speed)+time buffer. Moreover, misconnect engine286 may determine G2GTT via any suitable method and/or parameters, asdesired.

In an example, in misconnect engine 286, for a passenger having a DT of6 minutes and a G2GTT of 19 minutes, misconnect engine 286 may determinean RTC for that passenger of 6 minutes+19 minutes=25 minutes. Moreover,RTC values for a passenger may be updated and/or refined, as suitable,for example based on updated information received by or available tomisconnect management system 115.

In misconnect engine 286, ATC may be the time difference between thearrival time of an arriving flight and the departure time of a departingflight. Misconnect engine 286 may utilize scheduled, estimated, and/oractual information for arrival time and departure time, depending ontime horizon. Preferably, misconnect engine 286 utilizes the mostaccurate data source available.

Misconnect engine 286 may utilize an ETA for an upline flight. Beforethe upline flight departs, the ETA may be considered to be the ETD+theflight plan enroute time+estimated taxi in time. Between upline flightdeparture and arrival at a destination, the ETA for the upline flightmay be available from a FLIFO system. After arrival of the uplineflight, the ETA may be the actual arrival time.

Misconnect engine 286 may flag one or more passengers (and/or bags orcrew) as potentially misconnected, for example by comparing theirrespective ATC and RTC. If passenger ATC exceeds RTC, the passenger isnot flagged as a misconnected passenger; however, if ATC is within arange of RTC (for example, within 10 minutes, within 20 minutes, within30 minutes, and/or the like), misconnect management system 115 may beconfigured to notify a user 105 of such condition. In this manner, auser 105 can potentially avoid decisions that turn a passenger whoconnects with little time to spare into a passenger that ismisconnected.

In various embodiments, if passenger RTC exceeds ATC, misconnect engine286 flags that passenger as a misconnected passenger. Misconnect engine286 may also model, determine, and/or calculate a series of hold timesor other suitable modifications for a flight, and determine outcomesassociated with each modification. For example, misconnect engine 286may evaluate a set of 10 potential hold times for a flight, and identifywhich hold times of the set of 10 potential hold times will allow aparticular misconnected passenger to connect to that flight.

When misconnect management system 115 is utilized, for example by a user105, to implement a hold decision for a flight, it will be appreciatedthat the hold will typically have an effect on the arrival time of thatflight at the downline station. Due at least in part to bank-relatedcongestion, the taxi-out time of a flight that is held at the gate maydiffer from the taxi time incorporated into the flight plan block time.Accordingly, misconnect engine 286 may revise and/or update estimatedtaxi-out time for a flight in connection with various estimated holdtimes for the flight. Stated generally, misconnect management system 115is configured to model, consider, and/or account for flight hold effectson downline flights and/or stations, and more generally, implications ona transportation network as a whole.

For example, because average taxi times vary depending on the time ofday, in misconnect database 283, taxi time information may be stored bytime of day. Misconnect engine 286 may compare the taxi time informationfor the scheduled departure time of a flight with the taxi timeinformation for the delayed departure time of a flight in response to ahold being implemented. If the taxi time information differs (forexample, if the taxi time associated with the decision to hold theflight is longer than the taxi time for the scheduled departure time),then the expected arrival time for the flight in question at thedownline station may be delayed by a corresponding amount. In thismanner, the impact of a hold decision on downline arrivals (for example,newly created missed passenger, bag, or crew connections at the downlinestation arising from delays at the present station) may be more fullycharacterized and/or considered, for example by a flight operationscontroller tasked with making a hold decision for a flight.

In misconnect management system 115, misconnected crew members may beidentified and/or managed in a manner similar to misconnectedpassengers. In various embodiments, misconnect engine 286 is configuredto determine a required time to connect for crew (RTCC) and an availabletime to connect for crew (ATCC). Due to airline process constraints,government regulations, and/or the like, connecting crew may be requiredto wait to deplane an aircraft until after all deplaning passengers haveexited the aircraft. Accordingly, misconnect engine 286 may determineRTCC based on a time required to deplane all passengers from a flight inquestion, together with a G2GTT for the connecting crew.

In various embodiments, misconnect engine 286 determines ATCC as ETD(for the flight to which the crew are connecting)—BoardingTime—Inspection Time— ETA (of the flight on which the connecting creware arriving). If RTCC exceeds ATCC, misconnect engine 286 may providean indication of a suitable adjustment to ETD for the departing flightthat would allow the crew to connect. A user 105 may implement anadjustment to the departing flight ETD based on output generated bymisconnect engine 286. Alternatively, a user 105 may call out a reservecrew for the departing flight to replace the misconnected crew (forexample, in instances where the expense associated with the reserve crewis smaller than the expense associated with holding the departing flightfor a sufficiently long time to allow the connecting crew to connect).

In misconnect management system 115, misconnected bags may be identifiedand/or managed via any suitable method. In various embodiments,misconnect engine 286 is configured to determine a required time toconnect for bags (RTTCB). Misconnect engine 286 may determine RTTCB viaan internal optimization-based bag runner scheduling system.Alternatively, misconnect engine 286 may utilize an external bag runnerscheduling system to determine RTTCB. In various embodiments, RTTCB maybe determined based on a time to unload bags from an arriving flight, atime for ramp agents to transport bags between gates, a time to loadbags on a departing flight, and/or the like. Misconnect engine 286 mayutilize RTTCB and various other parameters to determine if a bag is amisconnected bag. For a misconnected bag, misconnect engine 286 mayprovide a suggested hold time for a flight sufficient to allow one ormore misconnected bags to connect.

In various embodiments, in misconnect management system 115, parameterssuch as DT, G2GTT, ATC, RTC, ATCC, RTCC, RTTCB, and the like may becalculated as deterministic values. Additionally, in certain embodimentsthese parameters may be represented as normalized distributions withassociated confidence intervals. Misconnect management system 115 may beconfigured to utilize stochastic simulation to identify a potentiallymisconnected passenger, bag, or crew member. Additionally, misconnectmanagement system 115 may utilize stochastic simulation to identify thelikelihood of misconnect information provided by misconnect managementsystem 115 improving the decision-making ability of a user 105.

In some embodiments, misconnect management system 115 and/or componentsthereof (for example, misconnect engine 286) are configured withlearning algorithms, genetic algorithms, neural networks, and/or thelike. Additionally, misconnect management system 115 may be configuredto repeatedly monitor, sample, and/or record planned results vs. actualresults. In this manner, misconnect management system 115 may beconfigured to continually update, calibrate, and/or refine approachesfor determination of parameters such as DT, G2GTT, and/or the like, inorder to improve forecasting accuracy.

In various embodiments, misconnect management system 115 is configuredwith interfaces to certain external systems (for example, reservationsystem 260A and/or flight operations system 260B) in order to automateand/or streamline re-accommodation and/or rebooking of misconnectedpassengers.

In various embodiments, misconnect interface 289 is configured tofacilitate interaction between a user 105 and misconnect module 280.Misconnect interface 289 is configured to present information stored inmisconnect database 283 to user 105, to display simulation resultsdetermined by misconnect engine 286, to receive inputs and/or commandsfrom user 105, and/or the like.

With reference now to FIGS. 2C-2G, misconnect interface 289 isconfigured to display connection information for a flight or set offlights. Misconnect interface 289 may display any suitable informationassociated with a flight, a passenger, a crew member, flight operations,and/or the like. In an embodiment, for a departing flight identified bymisconnect engine 286 to be associated with at least one misconnectedpassenger, misconnect interface 289 displays an alert level value, aflight number, flight origin information, destination information,equipment information, departure gate information, scheduled departureinformation, misconnecting flight information, misconnecting passengerinformation, and/or the like.

In various embodiments, misconnect interface 289 displays a first alertfor any flight where a passenger has less than a threshold amount oftime to connect (for example, 30 minutes). Misconnect interface 289 mayalso display a second, heightened alert for any flight having apassenger identified as a probable misconnected passenger (for example,a passenger with less than 0 minutes to connect). For example, apassenger may be identified as a misconnected passenger in the event theETD of their next flight leg is before the ETA of their current flightleg; stated another way, in order to connect, that passenger would needto depart on the downline leg before arriving via the upline leg—animpossibility. Accordingly, misconnect engine 286 may identify such apassenger as a misconnected passenger.

Misconnect interface 289 may also display information associated withthe next flight to the same market as the current flight. Next flightinformation may be utilized by a user 105 to make a hold/no holddecision for the flight currently being considered. For example, if thenext flight is close in time, a misconnected passenger may be of reducedconsequence as compared to occasions when the next flight is more remotein time. Similarly, if the next flight is fully booked, a misconnectedpassenger may be of increased consequence as compared to occasions whenthe next flight has numerous available seats. In these instances,exemplary overbooking systems and methods, for example as disclosed inco-pending patent application U.S. Ser. No. 13/348,417 incorporated byreference hereinbelow, may suitably be utilized to select a course ofaction. Next flight information may be considered by user 105 and/ormisconnect engine 286 when evaluating a hold/no hold decision for aflight.

With momentary reference to FIGS. 2D-2F, misconnect interface 289 mayprovide an expanded view of certain data, for example misconnectingpassengers, which may be grouped, organized, and/or sorted as desired.For example, misconnecting passengers may be grouped by available timeto connect, by flight origin location information (i.e., domestic,Canada, Europe, and/or the like), by airline rewards program status,and/or the like. It will be appreciated that misconnect interface 289may present misconnecting passenger information in any suitable mannerconfigured to facilitate making a hold/no hold decision, for example bya ramp controller, an operations manager, and/or the like.

Turning now to FIG. 2G, misconnect interface 289 may display a holdmatrix representing misconnected passengers and potential outcomesassociated with a variety of hold times for a flight. The contents ofthe hold matrix may be generated by misconnect engine 286, for exampleon a real-time basis, every 15 seconds, every 30 seconds, every minute,and/or the like. A user 105, for example a ramp controller, anoperations control center employee, and/or the like, may utilize thehold matrix to make a hold/no hold decision for a particular flight.

For example, per the exemplary data illustrated in FIG. 2G, it can beseen that, as determined by misconnect engine 286, holding exampleflight 499 for 0 minutes is likely to result in 20 domestic misconnectedpassengers for that flight. In contrast, holding example flight 499 for5 minutes is likely to result in 4 additional domestic passengers beingable to connect, leaving 16 domestic misconnected passengers for thatflight. Yet further, holding example flight 599 for 15 minutes is likelyto result in all 20 potential misconnected passengers being able toconnect; however, it is estimated that a 15 minute hold will result inexample flight 499 arriving at its destination 18 minutes behindschedule.

It will be appreciated that, while the exemplary views in FIGS. 2Cthrough 2G are directed to misconnected passengers, in misconnectmanagement system 115 similar views and/or functionality may be providedfor misconnected bags, misconnected crew members, and/or the like.

Misconnect interface 289 may be configured to highlight and/or raise theprominence of certain displayed information, for example a suggestedhold time for a flight. In certain embodiments, a suggested hold timefor a flight may be displayed in bold type, displayed with a prominentcolor (for example, bright green) compared to other information, orotherwise be given increased prominence. In this manner, a user 105 mayquickly be able to assess misconnect interface 289 and select a courseof action for a flight.

With reference now to FIG. 3 , misconnect management system 115 may beconfigured to utilize or implement a method for misconnect management300. In method 300, misconnect management system 115 obtains (step 310)current data, for example current passenger data, flight data, crewdata, and/or the like. Current data may be provided by external systems,and/or via updates to data stored in misconnect management system 115.For each connecting passenger (for example, for a particular flight),misconnect management system 115 determines (step 320) an available timeto connect. For each connecting passenger, misconnect management system115 determines (step 330) a required time to connect. For eachconnecting passenger, misconnect management system 115 evaluates (step340) the available time to connect and the required time to connect. Ifthe required time to connect for a passenger exceeds that passenger'savailable time to connect, the passenger is flagged as a misconnectedpassenger. For each flight having at least one misconnected passenger,misconnect management system 115 evaluates (step 350) a set of potentialgate hold times. Misconnect management system 115 may then suggest,recommend, and/or output (step 360) one or more courses of action, forexample no gate hold, a 1 minute gate hold, a 5 minute gate hold, a 10minute gate hold, and/or the like. If misconnect management system 115receives information (for example, from a user 105) that a gate hold wasimplemented for a particular flight, misconnect management system 115may update (step 370) data, for example to reflect the changed flighthold status, downline effects, and/or the like.

In various embodiments, misconnect management system 115 comprisessoftware written in one or more of Visual Basic or C, and may utilize anAccess database. In certain embodiments, misconnect management system115 is configured as a distributed system wherein misconnect module 180is operable over a plurality of servers and/or locations. In someembodiments, misconnect interface 289 is operable on a PC-class server,for example a system configured with an Intel i5 CPU or equivalent. Inone embodiment, misconnect module 280 is operable to provide updateddata to a user 105 via misconnect interface 289 approximately everythirty seconds. It will be appreciated that, depending on hardware,database selection, network connectivity, and/or the like, misconnectmanagement system 115 may be configured with increased and/or reducedcomplexity and/or computing requirements, and the embodiments disclosedherein are by way of illustration and not of limitation.

In various embodiments, misconnect management system 115 may utilizeinformation about an airport (for example, in order to determinegate-to-gate distances) from any suitable source, for example airportarchitectural drawings, public records, survey information, web-basedmapping utilities, and/or the like.

Via use of misconnect management system 115, improved and/or optimalgate hold decisions may be obtained without requiring change to currentgate or ramp tower practices or scheduling systems. Stated another way,because misconnect management system 115 provides current and/orreal-time predictions of passenger, bag, and/or crew flow throughflights and airports, ramp controllers, operations controllers, andother similar personnel can make improved hold/no hold decisions. Inthis manner, misconnected passengers may be reduced. Similarly,misconnected bags and/or crew may be reduced. Additionally, misconnectmanagement system 115 enables an airline to determine an improvedbalance between (i) costs associated with misconnected passengers, bags,and crew, and (ii) costs associated with gate holds. In this manner,misconnect management system 115 facilitates expense reduction and thuscontributes to profitability. For example, the system may determine afinancial cost associated with each of the set of gate hold times,determine a financial savings associated with each of the set of gatehold times and identify the gate hold time in the set of gate hold timesfor which the financial cost is minimized.

Principles and features of the present disclosure may suitably becombined with principles of revenue management, for example as disclosedin U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/348,417 entitled “Overbooking,Forecasting, and Optimization Methods and Systems” filed on Jan. 11,2012 (now U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013-0132128 publishedon May 13, 2013), which is incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

Principles and features of the present disclosure may suitably becombined with principles of forecasting, demand modeling, and/or thelike, for example as disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/791,672 entitled “Demand Forecasting Systems and Methods UtilizingUnobscuring and Unconstraining” filed on Mar. 8, 2013 (now U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2014-0257925 published on Sep. 11, 2014),U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/791,691 entitled “Demand ForecastingSystems and Methods Utilizing Fare Adjustment” filed on Mar. 8, 2013(now U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2014-0257881 published onSep. 11, 2014), and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/791,711 entitled“Demand Forecasting Systems and Methods Utilizing Prime Class Remapping”filed on Mar. 8, 2013 (now U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2014-0257882 published on Sep. 11, 2014), each of which are incorporatedherein by reference in their entirety.

Principles and features of the present disclosure may also suitably becombined with principles of reserve forecasting, for example asdisclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/793,049 entitled“Reserve Forecasting Systems and Methods” filed on Mar. 11, 2013 (nowU.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2014-0257900 published on Sep.11, 2014), which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Principles and features of the present disclosure may also suitably becombined with principles of departure sequencing, for example asdisclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/833,761 entitled“Departure Sequencing Systems and Methods” filed on Mar. 15, 2013 (nowU.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2014-0278036 published on Sep.18, 2014), which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

While the present disclosure may be described in terms of an airport, anaircraft, and/or the like, one skilled in the art can appreciate thatsimilar features and principles may be applied to other transportationsystems and vehicles such as, for example, buses, trains, ships, trucks,automobiles and/or the like.

While the exemplary embodiments described herein are described insufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practiceprinciples of the present disclosure, it should be understood that otherembodiments may be realized and that logical and/or functional changesmay be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentdisclosure. Thus, the detailed description herein is presented forpurposes of illustration and not of limitation.

While the description references specific technologies, systemarchitectures and data management techniques, practitioners willappreciate that this description is of various embodiments, and thatother devices and/or methods may be implemented without departing fromthe scope of principles of the present disclosure. Similarly, while thedescription references a user interfacing with the system via a computeruser interface, practitioners will appreciate that other interfaces mayinclude mobile devices, kiosks and handheld devices such as mobilephones, smart phones, tablet computing devices, etc.

While the steps outlined herein represent exemplary embodiments ofprinciples of the present disclosure, practitioners will appreciate thatthere are any number of computing algorithms and user interfaces thatmay be applied to create similar results. The steps are presented forthe sake of explanation only and are not intended to limit the scope ofthe present disclosure in any way. Benefits, other advantages, andsolutions to problems have been described herein with regard to specificembodiments. However, the benefits, advantages, solutions to problems,and any element(s) that may cause any benefit, advantage, or solution tooccur or become more pronounced are not to be construed as critical,required, or essential features or elements of any or all of the claims.

Systems, methods and computer program products are provided. In thedetailed description herein, references to “various embodiments”, “oneembodiment”, “an embodiment”, “an example embodiment”, etc., indicatethat the embodiment described may include a particular feature,structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarilyinclude the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover,such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment.Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic isdescribed in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it iswithin the knowledge of one skilled in the art to utilize such feature,structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodimentswhether or not explicitly described. After reading the description, itwill be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art(s) how to implementprinciples of the disclosure in alternative embodiments.

It should be understood that the detailed description and specificexamples, indicating exemplary embodiments, are given for purposes ofillustration only and not as limitations. Many changes and modificationsmay be made without departing from the spirit thereof, and features andprinciples of the present disclosure include all such modifications.Corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of allelements are intended to include any structure, material, or acts forperforming the functions in combination with other elements. Referenceto an element in the singular is not intended to mean “one and only one”unless explicitly so stated, but rather “one or more.” Moreover, when aphrase similar to “at least one of A, B, or C” or “at least one of A, B,and C” is used in the claims or the specification, the phrase isintended to mean any of the following: (1) at least one of A; (2) atleast one of B; (3) at least one of C; (4) at least one of A and atleast one of B; (5) at least one of B and at least one of C; (6) atleast one of A and at least one of C; or (7) at least one of A, at leastone of B, and at least one of C.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: creating, by a processor, a graph network model representing the airport, wherein the graph network model comprises a plurality of nodes and a plurality of links, wherein the plurality of nodes includes a gate node, airlinks, a runway with an entrance node and an exit node, and a runway crossing with a crossing node and ground links, and wherein the graph network model is a directed graph; creating, by the processor, calibrated parameters based on different operating characteristics of the airport; periodically determining, by the processor, a set of gate hold times for a second airplane in the transportation system, wherein the second airplane is associated with a misconnected passenger; periodically modifying, by the processor and responsive to the set of suggested gate hold times, a gate hold time for the second airplane to allow the misconnected passenger to board the second airplane; assessing, by the processor, connection information associated with the misconnected passenger from a first airplane; and repeatedly executing, by the processor, the graph network model to obtain a suggested gate pushback time for the second airplane based on the assessing of the connection information.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, by the processor, an available time to connect (ATC) for the misconnected passenger.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, by the processor, a required time to connect (RTC) for the misconnected passenger.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising periodically comparing, by the processor, an ATC to an RTC to identify the misconnected passenger when the RTC exceeds the ATC.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising periodically determining, by the processor, that an ATC is within a range of an RTC.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising modeling, by the processor, Gate-to-Gate Travel Time (G2GTT) based on at least one of physical distance between gates, passenger walking speed, shuttle transportation, presence of security checks, or a desired time buffer before door closure on the second airplane.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein an RTC is determined by adding Deplaning Time (DT) and Gate-to-Gate Travel Time (G2GTT), wherein the DT is based on a seat assigned to the misconnected passenger and a deplaning rate, wherein the deplaning rate is based on arrival airport and type of first airplane, and wherein the seat assigned is based on at least one of aisle seat, middle seat or window seat.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein an ATC for the misconnected passenger is determined based at least in part on a current arrival time of the first airplane and a scheduled departure time for the second airplane.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising calibrating, by the processor, parameters of the graph network model utilizing historical airplane flight information for the airport.
 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, by the processor, an effect of each of the set of gate hold times on at least one of the misconnected passenger, the second airplane or the transportation system.
 11. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, by the processor, a financial cost associated with each of the set of gate hold times; and identifying, by the processor, the gate hold time in the set of gate hold times for which the financial cost is minimized.
 12. The method of claim 1, further comprising: modeling, by the processor, movement of an item of luggage through the transportation system; identifying, by the processor, the item of luggage as a misconnected item of luggage; determining, by the processor, a second set of gate hold times for a second airplane having a flight in the transportation system, wherein the second airplane is associated with the misconnected item of luggage; modeling, by the processor, movement of a crew member through the transportation system; identifying, by the processor, the crew member as a misconnected crew member; and determining, by the processor, a third set of gate hold times for a third airplane having a flight in the transportation system, wherein the third airplane is associated with the misconnected crew member.
 13. The method of claim 1, further comprising: scheduling, by the processor, a departure time for the first airplane of a plurality of airplanes that is modeled on gate node business rules to model a taxi procedure for the first airplane; initializing, by the processor, a status of the first airplane flight that is modeled on gate node business rules to further model the taxi procedure for the first airplane; allowing, by the processor, the first airplane to occupy a node on a ground link, in response to the first airplane approaching the node, a next ground link having available capacity and the node not being occupied by the second airplane; checking, by the processor, potential future directional head-to-head airplane conflicts with the second airplane to avoid gridlock; triggering, by the processor and in response to the second airplane waiting on the last ground link, movement of the second airplane forward to wait on the next ground link as more space is made available on the next ground link; releasing, by the processor, the node of the currently occupying airplane; creating, by the processor and in response to the second airplane waiting for the node, a trigger to enter the node for the second airplane; implementing, by the processor, business rules for checking runway blockage by arrivals or crossings; triggering, by the processor and after a take-off event, another take-off event in response to the first airplane waiting on the runway entrance node and no blockage is applied; and scheduling, by the processor, multiple times for the first airplane to pass the current runway node to model the runway crossing for the first airplane in the graph network model.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein the processor comprises a misconnect database, a misconnect engine, and a misconnect interface.
 15. The method of claim 1, further comprising: updating, by the processor, a departure time for the second airplane to implement the gate hold time for the second airplane; and identifying, by the processor, the misconnected passenger as a connected passenger responsive to implementation of the gate hold time for the second airplane.
 16. The method of claim 1, further comprising: storing, by the processor, the data in the misconnect database; tuning, by the processor, the misconnect database to optimize the misconnect database performance, wherein the tuning includes placing frequently used files on separate file systems to reduce in and out bottlenecks; designating, by the processor, a key field in data tables of the misconnect database to speed searching for the data; and obtaining, by the processor, the data from the frequently used files.
 17. The method of claim 1, further comprising periodically refining, by the processor, the passenger walking speed by using actual passenger connection information based on a time-based scanner that scans a passenger boarding pass and records a gate reader boarding scan with a time stamp reflecting a time that the passenger passed through a gate and boarded the second airplane.
 18. The method of claim 1, further comprising: allowing, by the processor, the first airplane to occupy a node on a ground link, in response to the first airplane approaching the node, a next ground link having available capacity and the node not being occupied by the second airplane; checking, by the processor, potential future directional head-to-head airplane conflicts with the second airplane to avoid gridlock; triggering, by the processor and in response to the second airplane waiting on the last ground link, movement of the second airplane forward to wait on the next ground link as more space is made available on the next ground link.
 19. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining, by the processor, data from an airline central data repository, wherein the data includes information about a plurality of airline flights, passengers, airplanes, and airports.
 20. A system comprising: a processor; and a tangible, non-transitory memory configured to communicate with the processor, the tangible, non-transitory memory having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising: creating, by the processor, a graph network model representing the airport, wherein the graph network model comprises a plurality of nodes and a plurality of links, wherein the plurality of nodes includes a gate node, airlinks, a runway with an entrance node and an exit node, and a runway crossing with a crossing node and ground links, and wherein the graph network model is a directed graph; creating, by the processor, calibrated parameters based on different operating characteristics of the airport; periodically determining, by the processor, a set of gate hold times for a second airplane in the transportation system, wherein the second airplane is associated with a misconnected passenger; periodically modifying, by the processor and responsive to the set of suggested gate hold times, a gate hold time for the second airplane to allow the misconnected passenger to board the second airplane; assessing, by the processor, connection information associated with the misconnected passenger from a first airplane; and repeatedly executing, by the processor, the graph network model to obtain a suggested gate pushback time for the second airplane based on the assessing of the connection information. 